Sovereign of the Seven Isles 7: Reishi Adept (36 page)

He moved inside the
newly dug corridor and saw that it was being rebuilt with what looked like freshly quarried granite slabs for the floor, ceiling, and walls. Carts filled with dirt and stone were being pulled out by teams of Zuhl’s men, while empty carts were traveling back toward the ever-moving work site.

Dozens of
men with picks and shovels were digging, while others loaded carts with the loosened debris. As they made progress, a wizard was casting a spell, over and over again, bringing a slab of stone into being with each casting. He used his magically created stone to form the corridor walls, floor and ceiling, protecting the workers from the risks of further cave-ins.

“Looks like they have their own version of Wizard Jahoda,” Magda said.

“At this rate, they’ll reach the chamber within a few weeks,” Jack said.

“The question is
, what then?” Alexander said.

“That’s hard to say,” Magda said. “
Zuhl is an accomplished wizard with a great deal of experience. Left alone with the Nether Gate for long enough, he may well devise a way of making it work.”

“Or he may discover the secrets of its construction,” Cassandra said.

“Either way, we have to stop him,” Abigail said.

Chloe buzzed into existence and landed on the edge of the table.

“Can we see the tree, My Love?”

With a smile, Alexander shifted the view of the table to the secluded grotto that protected the last vitalwood from the outside world … but there was nothing there, save for a little mountain lake with an island in the center. Evidence of the rift torn in the world of time and substance by Selaphiel was plainly visible, but the tree itself was gone.

“Where did it go?” Chloe asked.

“I don’t know, Little One, but I intend to find out,” Alexander said.

“Where could it have gone?” Jack asked. “I got the impression that Selaphiel’s spell protecting it was well beyond any mortal power.”

“Me too,” Alexander said, frowning at the scene before him.
“I’ll take another look with my clairvoyance once we’re out of the library.”

“I must say, Alexander, this place is a treasure trove beyond imagining,” Magda said. “Cassandra and I have walked the stacks. There are tomes on every conceivable magical topic—many
of which neither of us has ever even considered. I could spend a hundred years in this room and never be able to study them all.”

“More to the point, there are a number of tomes that we would like to take with us,” Cassandra said
. “With your permission, of course.”

Alexander hesitated, scanning the shelves arrayed before him. This library represented two thousand years of accumulated knowledge, all safeguarded from the ravages of time and war and theft. In a very real way, this library was his family’s greatest legacy—a repository of knowledge and history, magic and experimentation.
Whatever he did, he couldn’t allow this library to be diminished.

“
No, Cassandra, these books must remain here.”

“But … there’s so much to be learned,” she said with more emotion and distress than he had ever seen from her. “Such knowledge should be shared with the world. It could do so much good.”

“I agree, but such knowledge must also be preserved and protected,” Alexander said. “And I believe that that is the first and most important purpose of this library.”

Both Cassandra and Magda
’s colors flared with loss and dashed hopes. Both women had spent the majority of their lives pursuing magical knowledge. This collection represented the best opportunity in the entire Seven Isles to further that study.

“Let me consult the
sovereigns,” Alexander said. “I’m sure you’re not the first who wanted to borrow a book from this library. And I do intend to share this knowledge, but I have to do it in a way that preserves this place for future generations.”

They both nodded, though somewhat reluctantly.

“I see the wisdom in that,” Magda said. “While we’re here, may I look for a book on transformation that will help me reverse Taharial’s plight?”

“Of course, look at any
book you like,” Alexander said.

Chapter
28

Alexander took his seat at the Reishi Council table.

“I’ve reached the library.”

Malachi’s habitual frown morphed into a scowl.

“Your guardian is dead,” Alexander said, holding the Sixth Sovereign with his glittering, blind eyes.

Malachi harrumphed, shaking his head.

“The tentacle demon fell to Luminessence then?”
Constantine said.

“No, it fled my light. We gave chase and found a race of creatures living under the Keep like nothing I’ve ever encountered.”

“Then which guardian do you speak of?” Balthazar asked.

“The demon that Malachi left inside the library.”

The first five sovereigns sat forward, concern etched in their faces.

“Were the books harmed?” Balthazar asked.

“Of course not,” Malachi spat before Alexander could answer. “The demon was there to protect them, not destroy them.”

“So you left another trap for your own son,” Demetrius said, shaking his head sadly.

Malachi shrugged. “I taught Phane to be ruthless and ambitious. He learned those lessons well—so well in fact that he became the greatest threat I faced. Phane was far too eager to rule and I had no intentions of dying prematurely to give him the chance. Precautions were necessary to dissuade him from a rash attempt on my life. It would have been such a tragedy to have to kill my last remaining child.”

“You mean like he killed all of your other children?” Alexander said.

“Their deaths pain me to this day, but Phane won out. He demonstrated that he alone was fit to rule.”

“Murdering your brothers and sisters doesn’t make you fit for anything but a hole in the ground,” Alexander said.

“If by some miracle you do succeed in killing my son, and Zuhl, and the Sin’Rath, and the Babachenko, and all of the other enemies that will challenge your rule, you will come to understand that power hindered by morality is always a short-lived proposition.”

“Your forefathers demonstrate
d the lie of such an absurd assertion,” Alexander said. “For eighteen hundred years, they ruled the Seven Isles according to a moral code—a set of principles not derived from whim or self-interest, but from the nature of life and the world itself. And it worked. Peace reigned and life for the average person was blessedly ordinary. You destroyed all of that, and I intend to remake it. But I didn’t come here to argue with you, Malachi. I came to ask about the library.”

“What would you like to know?” Balthazar asked.

“Is there an easy way to find the books that I’m looking for? And did you ever loan books out?”

Balthazar nodded. “Say the word ‘librarian’ and the librarian will appear. He will be able to assist you with any of the workings of the library. As for lending books, we all maintained a strict policy that no original book was ever to leave the library. However, there is a device along the wall, next to the map table, that allows for the copying of books. All that is required is a blank book of sufficient pages and size to accommodate the original text.”

Alexander chuckled to himself, shaking his head slowly. “Magic will never cease to amaze me. I found the map table and had a brief look around the isle with it, but I couldn’t find the vitalwood tree. Could it have been taken by Selaphiel?”

“Doubtful,
” Balthazar said. “The map table is blind to the existence of the vitalwood. I designed it that way as a precaution to protect the tree.”

“That’s a relief,” Alexander said. “The map table also showed me a room that looked like the crystal chamber in Blackstone, except there’s a
silvery sphere of magic surrounding it.”

“When the Sovereign Stone was lost to the world of time and substance, the Keep protected the crystal with a stasis field
to ensure that it wouldn’t stop spinning and shatter,” Balthazar said. “You must touch the control stone inside the chamber to dispel the stasis and awaken the Keep.”

“
Does the Keep have defenses like Blackstone did?”

“Of course,” Balthazar said, “both internal and external. Once the c
rystal is spinning again, you’ll be able to see within the Keep and control its capabilities with a thought.”

“So why does the map table work without the crystal?”

“The library is a place outside the world of time and substance, much like a Wizard’s Den. All of its magical features are internal and separate from the Keep.”

“Huh,” Alexander said, formulating his next question. “Will I be able to use the Keep
’s defenses to fight the creatures waiting just outside the door?”

“Within the Keep, there are many passages that can be warded with magical shields that will allow selective access to those you permit as well as many that can be warded against all passage. As for offensive weapons, those are designed to defend against external threats.”

“Tell us about the creatures you encountered,” Darius said. “Perhaps we can offer suggestions for combating them.”

Alexander spent a few minutes describing the horrible, insect
-like creatures, their twisted colors and the deafening shriek they emitted. He told the story of their running battle and retreat and of how they would face the creatures again once they left the library.

Malac
hi became very still and silent while he spoke.

“Tell me everything you know about t
hese creatures,” Alexander said, turning to the Sixth Sovereign.

He hesitated for a moment before beginning with a snarl. “I created them, but
I never expected that they’d breed. They’re a cross between a bat, a type of giant beetle, and another insect that I don’t have a name for. They’re completely blind, but they have hearing so keen that they might as well be able to see. Also, they emit a sound so loud and shrill that it can make a man’s ears bleed. Honestly, I didn’t think they were very promising for my purposes.”

“And just exactly what were your purposes?”

“To win the war, of course,” Malachi said. “Siavrax Karth had been experimenting with hybrid creatures for years with significant success. I thought it only prudent to follow a similar line of inquiry.”

“How do I fight them?”

“How should I know? I only made a few of them and I didn’t spend much time testing their capabilities.”

“Perhaps something as simple as
a dampened wad of paper in your ears would protect you from their shriek,” Darius said.

“It’s certainly worth a try,” Alexander said. “I’m not looking forward to fighting my way out of here.”

“Perhaps a silence spell would facilitate your exit uncontested,” Constantine said.

“He can’t cast a
silence spell,” Malachi said, “because he’s not a real wizard.”

“No
,” Alexander said, “but I bet Magda and Cassandra can.”

“You brought other people into the library?” Malachi said, his eyes going wide in dismay.

“Sure, why not?”

“The door will only permit the Sovereign
to enter for a reason.”

“And what might that be?”

“To protect your power, much of which is contained within the books in this collection,” Malachi said, as if he were talking to an idiot child.

Alexander shook his head sadly. “What a lonely life you must have led. That’s the difference between good and evil. I trust every one of those people with my life; you didn’t even trust your own son.”

He walked away from the table and opened his eyes to see Magda and Cassandra sitting at the table in his Wizard’s Den, both completely absorbed in the books they were reading. He left them to it, walking out into the library, flexing his shoulder and wincing a bit at the stab of pain.

“Librarian.”

A moment passed before a man in simple white pants and shirt appeared. He was bald, slight of build and shorter than most men. Also, he was translucent, as if he wasn’t really there at all.

“Lord Reishi, I am at your service.”

“Huh,” Alexander said.

Jataan seemed to materialize beside him.

“My friend has a wyvern that’s been transformed by dark magic into a figurine about this big,” Alexander said, holding his finger and thumb three inches apart. “I need a spell that will return the wyvern to its normal healthy state.”

“Of course, please come with me,
” he said, hurrying off into the stacks, leading Alexander to a shelf of books, stopping abruptly and pointing one slender finger at a large tome. “This is the spell you seek.”

“Thank you,” Alexander said. “Now show me how to create a duplicate of this book.”

“This way,” he said, walking briskly back to the head of the room, skirting the demon corpse without a hint of distress, and stopping before a set of shelves against the wall close to the map table. Rows of uniformly sized books filled three shelves below the top shelf which was slightly angled with a raised lip running along the lower edge like a lectern.

“Place the book you wish to duplicate here,” he pointed to the left side of the angled shelf. “The
n place a blank book from the shelves below on the right side. The process will begin automatically.”

Alexander did as instructed. A moment passed before both books opened to the first page. Words began to appear on the blank page of the empty book as if they were being written by hand, though much more quickly than any scribe could have written
them. The page filled up with words, matching exactly the words from the original, then both pages turned in unison and the next page began to fill up.

Alexand
er stood mesmerized until Jack started laughing.

“Someday I’m going to want to borrow that … a lot,” he said.

“I’ll bet,” Abigail said, taking his hand as they watched the page turn again.

Alexander returned to the Wizard’s Den, finding the two witches still reading with near
-exclusive focus.

Lita smiled at him.
“You’ll probably have to touch them on the shoulder to get their attention,” she said.

He tapped Magda. She blinked a few times before her eyes returned to the present.

“Come on, I want to show you something,” he said. “You too, Cassandra.”

They
reluctantly pulled their attention from the tomes before them. He led them out and showed them the book being copied.

“Remarkable,” Magda whispered.

“Indeed,” Cassandra agreed.

“This is the
spellbook that will help you with Taharial,” Alexander said, “at least according to the librarian.”

“Lord Reishi, I am at your service,” the librarian said, appearing nearby at the mention of his name.

“Apparently, he can help you find any book you want.”

“This place is a wonder,” Magda said. “I’ll be sad to leave.”

“Speaking of which, do you have a spell that creates silence?” Alexander asked.

“Yes, it’s a common spell, often effective against other spell
casters, provided they don’t know a counter that relies on hand gestures alone.”

“Good, how long does it last?”

“The duration varies with intent,” Magda said, “a few moments up to thirty minutes or so. Why?”

“Because that’s how we’re going to get out of here,” Alexander said. “Those creatures rely on sound to see. If they can’t hear us, we’ll be invisible to them.”

“Huh,” Jack said, heading back into the Wizard’s Den and his desk.

“I’d like to take a look at the back wall while we wait for your book to finish writing itself,” Alexander said. “I could use your help, both of you.”

“Certainly,” Magda said, following Alexander to the wall with the hidden compartment containing Malachi’s phylactery.

“The
sovereigns tell me that the map table can’t see the vitalwood, Little One,” Alexander said silently to Chloe while they walked.

“Oh, thank the Maker. I was so worried.”

They reached the back wall of the library and found that the last row of shelves ran the length of the entire wall, floor to ceiling. Alexander scanned for any hint of magic past the ubiquitous aura emanating from the library itself and found nothing.

“Somewhere along this wall is a hidden and trapped compartment, but I can’t see it.”

Magda frowned for a moment, as if considering which of the spells in her repertoire she needed. Then she began to mutter under her breath. Her colors flared, and her frown deepened. She cast another spell, shaking her head.

“I can’t see it either,” she said.

“Librarian,” Alexander said.

“Lord Reishi, I am at your service,” he said, materializing before him.

“Can you show me where the hidden compartment is in this wall?”

“Of course,” he said, walking to a section near the right corner and pointing to a book on the bottom shelf. “Push this book in against the back of the shelf and the compartment will open.”

From several paces away, Alexander sent his sight to the book and examined it closely, drifting behind it and finding a section of the shelf that protruded, just about the same size as the book’s spine. A faint, almost imperceptible aura of magic confirmed the librarian’s guidance.